8/27/2006
Musician Irritated Having to Add Area Code to Phone Number Songs
(Lodi, CA) Local coffehouse musician Freedy Sanders says that the switch to a 10-digit telephone number schema has "really messed up" his set list, which included several "number" songs."Just try singing Tommy Tutone's '867-5309' with the extra numbers - it's all jacked up," he told National Nitwit reporters during a break in his gig at Tillie's Coffee Bar. "Either you have to speed it up - 2098675309 - or you have to add an extra measure, which sounds retarded."
Sanders said patrons have been "confused" with the updating of classics.
"Older white guys really struggle, because they have a hard enough time keeping the beat without me throwing in the numeric changes," he said. "But pretty much every phone number song - even Wilson Pickett's '634-5789' - has been totally warped with this 10-digit bullshit."
Left: Yesterday's songs, today's technology not in synchSanders has tried some other methods to cope with the demands of the telecommunications industry for universal acceptance of the 10-digit system.
"For a while I was humming all the number parts, but many in the crowd weren't catching on," he said. "Then I tried holding a big flashcard with the [central California] 209 area code, but I had to set down the guitar to do that. I'll probably end up having to drop the songs with telephone numbers from my sets, because this is getting ridiculous. By the time I figure this one out, they'll probably jump to a 12-digit deal."
# posted by Subcomandante Bob : 12:14 PM
